


Walking Home

by trashbandic00t



Category: Smosh, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, F/F, Fluff, Mild Language, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship, mari is a bartender and courtney sings there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22775347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashbandic00t/pseuds/trashbandic00t
Summary: Mari walks Courtney home after work one night.
Relationships: Courtney Miller & Mari Takahashi, Courtney Miller/Mari Takahashi
Kudos: 6





	Walking Home

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted onto my Tumblr at urielectrc. Thanks for your feedback!

“Are you sure this isn’t too out of the way for you?” Courtney asked as the two women rounded onto her street. “You really don’t have to walk me all the way home.”

  
Mari nodded, giving the other a soft smile. “I’m sure,” she responded for the third time. The conversation they had started on the train had continued to the station and Mari was getting sick of having to cut things short because of train whistles or the insufferable and unforgettable fact that they were coworkers. The city was always so damn loud and the club, even when Courtney was on break and was sitting on the side of the bar closest to Mari, was so damn loud and even when the car doors opened and they were on the platform, the metal squealing on rail was so damn loud.

  
Mari had to hear the end of the story that night—Courtney was just getting to the best part. But a quarter of the way to Courtney’s place, the story had finished with shrieking giggles as they waited for the glowing white crossing signal and both of them were quiet. Mari tried to stay in the moment, telling herself she didn’t need to memorize the streets back to the green rail when her phone’s GPS could do all the work for her. She didn’t want to crowd her thoughts with excuses when her time could be spent in much better ways, like watching Courtney’s blue eyes scrunch around the corners when she recounted Damien’s pathetic defeat in Mario Party.

  
And Courtney always felt like she was constantly loud, like she was always howling. From working at the burger joint during the week, shouting orders out to the cooks behind her, to the Switch competitions between her and the busser boys before the evening could start, to controlling the stage during performances. She realized that she had never spent a moment in quiet with Mari. The other always made her feel like a satellite surrounding a moon. She was always leaning in, like Courtney was going to be in on a big secret. She still wasn’t quite sure what the secret was, but Mari smelled irresistible when their shoulders or wrists brushed, like the sweetness of grenadine and the wintergreen gum she and Sohinki kept behind the register.

  
Courtney’s hands were in the pockets of her jean jacket, pins dotting the lapel and pockets. She knew that she should be watching the cars or the lights or anything else, but all she could do was gaze at Mari’s purple, shiny hair underneath the warm glow of the light they were under. Everything about her was dynamic from her appearance to the way she could be the only bartender the entire evening without breaking a single glass or dropping an order. 

  
The streetlight clicked as it changed and Courtney flew back into reality as the lone taxi at the light tried to move forward and stalled, a loud bang sounding next to them. Mari was suddenly laughing again, her hand laying gently across Courtney’s forearm when the other jumped. Mari could have sworn she saw Courtney’s hair rise as if electrified. “I guess it’s a good thing I’m walking you home,” she joked as they resumed their walk. Small stones gripped under Courtney’s shoes, scraping the rubber between the concrete. “You’d still be asleep at that street corner. It’s supposed to frost tonight, too. The morning commute would find you frozen there.”

Mari couldn’t say that she was filling the silence nervously because Courtney was too close to her and too far away from everything else. She couldn’t say that she was glad for the car backfiring so she could touch her favorite coworker in a totally platonic way. Courtney was smiling wide, like that was the most adorable thing she’d ever heard and Mari felt a swell in her chest. But all too soon, the other was climbing the steps of her brownstone and Mari was entranced, watching her form. She followed closely behind, not daring to let the space between them slip any further than her mind could possibly handle. When the other stopped in front of the oak door and turned to face her, Mari damn near thought about following through with the step and a half between them to press the other against it. 

Courtney would have welcomed it.

“This is mine,” Courtney presented, her eyebrows gently scrunched. She shifted her key ring out of her pocket and she used it as an excuse to draw her eyes away from Mari’s, idly fumbling with them as if she wasn’t sure which were which. As if she didn’t paint them distinctive colors with Olivia two weeks prior so she could tell them apart.

“The key ring?” Mari blurted. “S’pretty nice, I guess, as far as key rings go.” She wanted to say something, anything, to continue into the ease. To her delight, Courtney gave a soft and breathy laugh.

“Also, the apartment,” Courtney said with a smile, narrowing her eyes playfully. “Thank you for walking me home the rest of the way. Maybe next time I’ll walk you back to the train station for walking me home.”

  
“That’d undo the entire action of walking you home,” Mari responded, making a face.

“Oh well,” the other shrugged as she finally pulled the key to her front door out of the clump. The others jingled as they fell away. “I guess we’ll just have to keep practicing until we do it right.” Courtney’s eyes traveled back up to Mari’s and the two of them stood there longer than necessary grinning at each other.


End file.
